5.  The applicant was born in 1980 and normally lives in Sereď.
6.  At 3.30 p.m. and 7.55 p.m. respectively on 3 April 2006 the applicant was taken to a police station (predvedený) and detained (zadržaný) on suspicion of illegal production, possession and trade in dangerous drugs. Official charges to that effect were brought against him the following day.
7.  At 3.03 p.m. on 5 April 2006 the Galanta District Office of Public Prosecution (Okresná prokuratúra, “the District Prosecutor”) lodged a request with the Galanta District Court (Okresný súd) for the applicant to be remanded in custody pending trial.
8.  At 11.05 a.m. on 6 April 2006 the applicant was brought before a single judge of the District Court to be heard in connection with the request for a detention order against him.
The applicant complained that he had not been brought before a judge within twenty-four hours of his arrest, as required by Article 8 § 3 of the Charter of Basic Rights and Freedoms (Constitutional Law no. 23/1991 Coll.) (Listina základných práv a slobôd – “the Charter”), requested release and offered a pledge under Article 80 § 1 (b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Law no. 301/2005 Coll., as applicable at the relevant time) (“the CCP”) that he would live in accordance with the law.
It was true that the time-limit for bringing a detained person (zadržaná osoba) before a judge under Article 17 § 3 of the Constitution (Constitutional Law no. 460/1992 Coll.), as amended with effect from 1 July 2001 (Constitutional Law no. 90/2001 Coll.) was forty-eight hours.
However, neither the Constitution nor any other legislation had expressly repealed the Charter and an implicit repeal was not permissible. The Charter guaranteed him broader legal protection and had to be applied in his case.
9.  Following the hearing, on the same day, the District Court remanded the applicant in custody pending trial and rejected his pledge under Article 80 § 1 (b) of the CCP. It found that there were fears that if released the applicant might commit a previously attempted offence, continue to offend, or carry out new criminal activities within the meaning of Article 71 § 1 (c) of the CCP. The applicant submitted an oral interlocutory appeal (sťažnosť) and stated that he would lodge his reasons for the appeal within three days.
10.  A written version of the detention order of 6 April 2006 was served on the applicant at an unspecified later point. The District Court summarised the charge against the applicant and the submissions of the District Prosecutor and those made orally by the applicant. It referred to the conclusions of an expert analysis concerning the substance found on the applicant and observed that illegal drugs had been found on him for the second time. The applicant's explanation that he had found and had been going to dump the drug so that it would not be found by anyone else was implausible because the applicant had had the opportunity to report the find to the police and had not done so.
11.  On 7 April 2006, which was a Friday, the applicant's lawyer requested that he be allowed to inspect the case file. Arrangements were made for the inspection to take place on 10 April 2006, which was a Monday.
12.  The applicant subsequently sent the grounds of his appeal in writing to the District Court, where they arrived on 13 April 2006. The applicant developed the twenty-four-hour time-limit argument in detail and sought release.
13.  On 25 April 2006, sitting in private (neverejné zasadnutie), the Trnava Regional Court (Krajský súd) dismissed the applicant's interlocutory appeal. In a one-and-a-half-page decision, the Regional Court summarised the impugned decision and the applicant's appeal. Referring in general to “the contents of the case file”, the Regional Court found that all formal and substantive requirements for remanding the applicant in custody pending trial had been fulfilled. In particular, a formal charge had been brought against the applicant, there was a well-founded suspicion against him in the present case and in the other case mentioned below (see paragraphs 17 to 19 below) and the applicant was unemployed. This provided good grounds to fear that, if at liberty, the applicant would carry on making his living from similar criminal activities. The Regional Court did not specifically address the applicant's argument under the Charter. The decision was served on the applicant and his lawyer on 23 May 2006.
14.  On 25 June 2006 the applicant lodged a complaint, under Article 127 of the Constitution, with the Constitutional Court (Ústavný súd). Relying on Article 5 § 4 of the Convention, he contended that the proceedings before the District Court and the Regional Court in respect of his appeal against the detention order of 6 April 2006 had not been “speedy”.
15.  On 31 October 2006 the Constitutional Court declared the applicant's complaint admissible, in so far as it concerned the Regional Court. In so far as it concerned the District Court, the complaint was declared inadmissible as “manifestly ill-founded, on the ground that, at the time of the introduction of the applicant's complaint, the matter had no longer been pending before the District Court, which is why the District Court could not have been committing a violation of the applicant's said rights”.
16.  On 19 April 2007 the Constitutional Court ruled on the admissible part of the applicant's complaint. It found that the Regional Court had not violated the applicant's rights under Article 5 § 4 of the Convention. It observed that it had taken twenty-two days for the Regional Court to rule on the applicant's appeal and to transmit its decision to the District Court, whose task it was to have the decision served on the parties. It noted that although the applicant had lodged his appeal orally on 6 April 2006, he had submitted the grounds of his appeal in writing on 13 April 2006. In view of all the circumstances and the Constitutional Court's previous practice, the conduct of the Regional Court had been constitutionally acceptable.
17.  The applicant had previously been remanded in custody on 3 February 2006 on another drug-related charge.
18.  The applicant appealed against this detention on a number of grounds, including that he had not been brought before a judge within twenty-four hours as required under the Charter.
19.  On 16 February 2006 the Regional Court quashed the detention order of 3 February 2006 and ordered the applicant's immediate release, noting that it had “examined the written interlocutory appeal of [the applicant] as submitted by his defence counsel ... and [it had] identified itself with the objections raised therein”.
Nevertheless, the Regional Court made no specific reference to any of those objections and offered no reasons other than as mentioned above. The applicant was subsequently released.